Face-Framing Highlights: The Subtle Way to Brighten Your Look
Sometimes the most impactful changes are the smallest ones. Face-framing highlights are proof of this. By strategically placing lighter pieces around your face, a skilled colorist can brighten your complexion, add dimension to your hair, and create a more youthful appearance without touching the rest of your head. This technique has become one of the most popular color services at Sofia Loren Salon in Boca Raton, and it is easy to see why. It delivers maximum visual impact with minimal commitment and maintenance.
What Are Face-Framing Highlights?
Face-framing highlights are lighter pieces of color placed specifically around the front of your hair, near your face. They typically include the sections that fall along your temples, around your part, and sometimes through the pieces that frame your jawline. The rest of your hair remains untouched or receives a different, more subtle treatment.
The placement is strategic and intentional. Rather than applying highlights evenly throughout the hair, the colorist focuses all the brightness where it will have the most visible effect. When you look in a mirror, these lighter pieces catch the light and draw attention to your facial features. They create a halo-like effect that makes your skin look warmer and more radiant.
This is not a new concept. Colorists have been placing highlights around the face for decades. But in 2018, the technique has been refined and elevated. Today’s face-framing highlights are softer, more blended, and more customized to each individual’s bone structure and coloring than the chunky, obvious face-frame highlights of the early 2000s.
Why Face-Framing Highlights Are So Flattering
There is a reason professional photographers and cinematographers use lighting to illuminate faces. Light draws the eye and creates the perception of dimension and warmth. Face-framing highlights work on the same principle. By placing lighter tones where light would naturally hit your face, you create a visual effect that mimics beautiful, natural illumination.
The brightening effect extends beyond your hair. Lighter pieces around your face reflect light back onto your skin, which can make your complexion appear more even and glowing. Many of our clients at Sofia Loren Salon report that they feel like they look more rested and refreshed after getting face-framing highlights, even though the only thing that changed is their hair color.
Face-framing highlights also create the illusion of more dimension in your hair, even when the rest of it is a single, solid color. A brunette with warm honey pieces around her face looks like she has rich, multi-dimensional color, even though only a small portion of her hair has been lightened. This makes face-framing highlights an excellent option for someone who wants to experiment with color without a drastic overall change.
Customizing the Placement
The exact placement of face-framing highlights varies depending on your face shape, hairstyle, and personal preferences. A skilled colorist considers all of these factors during your consultation before picking up a single brush.
For oval faces, highlights placed from the temples down to the chin create a beautiful frame that emphasizes balanced proportions. For round faces, concentrating the brightness slightly higher, near the temples and forehead, can create the illusion of length. For heart-shaped faces, lighter pieces near the jawline can add width and balance a narrower chin.
Your hairstyle also influences placement. If you wear your hair parted down the middle, the highlights might be applied symmetrically on both sides. If you have a deep side part, the colorist will concentrate more brightness on the heavier side of the part, where more hair is visible. If you wear bangs, the highlights might be woven through the fringe itself or placed just behind it so they peek through.
The width and number of highlighted sections matter too. Thinner, more numerous pieces create a softer, more blended effect. Fewer, bolder pieces make a more dramatic statement. At Sofia Loren Salon, we typically lean toward the softer approach because it looks more natural and grows out more gracefully.
The Application Process
Face-framing highlights are one of the quicker color services you can get at a salon. Because the colorist is only working on a limited area of hair, the application typically takes about thirty to forty-five minutes, plus processing time. The total appointment usually runs about an hour and a half to two hours, which is significantly shorter than a full head of highlights.
The technique can be done using foils, freehand painting, or a combination of both. Foils provide more precise control and can achieve greater levels of lift, which is important if you have dark hair and want a noticeable contrast. Freehand painting, or balayage, creates a softer, more graduated look that blends seamlessly into the surrounding hair.
After the lightener has processed, a toner is applied to achieve the desired shade. The toner is what takes you from a raw, lifted blonde to the specific tone your colorist has envisioned, whether that is a cool, icy blonde, a warm honey, a rich caramel, or anything in between.
Maintenance and Grow-Out
One of the biggest advantages of face-framing highlights is how well they grow out. Because the highlighted sections are limited and the blending is soft, you do not see a harsh regrowth line as your hair grows. The lighter pieces gradually move further from your face, which simply makes them less prominent rather than making them look neglected.
Most of our clients come in for a refresh every ten to fourteen weeks, though some stretch it even longer. This makes face-framing highlights significantly more affordable and time-friendly than a full highlight service. For busy Boca Raton women who want to look polished without spending their weekends at the salon, this is a major selling point.
Between appointments, you can maintain your color at home with sulfate-free shampoo and a color-protecting conditioner. If your highlights are on the blonde side, an occasional purple shampoo session will keep brassiness at bay, especially during the South Florida summer when sun and pool exposure can shift your tone.
Who Should Consider Face-Framing Highlights
Face-framing highlights are an excellent choice for color newcomers who want to ease into the world of highlights without a dramatic change. They are also perfect for low-maintenance women who want maximum impact from a minimal service. Brunettes who want to add warmth without going lighter overall are ideal candidates, as are blondes who want a little extra brightness around their face without a full highlight appointment.
If you are someone who ties their hair back frequently, face-framing highlights are especially impactful because the lighter pieces remain visible in a ponytail or bun. You get the benefit of the color regardless of how you style your hair.
Book Your Appointment at Sofia Loren Salon
Ready to brighten your look with face-framing highlights? Visit Sofia Loren Salon in Boca Raton for a personalized color consultation. Our colorists will design a placement plan that flatters your unique features and fits your maintenance preferences. Call us at (561) 444-0720 or book online at sofialorensalon.com.